Trump administration guts community finance fund, a move that threatens tribal economies

Trump administration guts community finance fund, a move that threatens tribal economies

The U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 2022. (Photo by Marisa Demarco/Source New Mexico)RAPID CITY — Roughly 25 years ago, only 1% of all small businesses on the Cheyenne River Reservation in northwestern South Dakota were Native owned despite Native people making up more than 90% of the reservation population. That all changed when Four Bands Community Fund, a Native Community Development Financial Institution, came to t…